The Nature of Life

In my opinion, the unequivocal truth about life is this: humans like all animals are biological machines predisposed to reproductively successful behaviour - all life is in competition with itself although co-operation also occurs when it furthers individuals goals. Life evolved by a random and blind processes - I see no evidence of a higher force at work because to believe in such would create cognitive dissonances best summed up by Epicurus thusly:

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?

Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?"

Unfortunately holding this somewhat bleak perspective on life is troubling to me. I express it posed as this question:

"would you prefer to believe an ugly truth or a beautiful lie"

I believe that most of us opt for what I would deem a beautiful lie - that there is an inherent purpose and meaning to life and maybe a God. They keep themselves busy and don't let the cognitive dissonances and paradoxes that arise from the conflict occasioned by contact with the horrors that life entails. In the west we try to sweep the horror under the carpet - in other places of the world, God may be considered to "move in mysterious ways".

I myself am not particularly happy about this view of the world. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else particularly as it hasn't brought me great joy. In fact I am a depressive person and this belief system might well be an artifact of my brain as much as anything else. And yet I believe that it IS the most easily believable truth - no mental acrobatics are needed - just a willingness to accept the most obvious solution to the question about the nature of life, however unpleasant and blasphemous that solution is.

A facet of this understanding regards human nature and the question of whether you and I can ever truly trust another human. "Trust them to do what?" you may ask. "I'd trust them to be human" - but what does that mean? Human behaviour is an intriguing mix of a range of ancestral biological traits mediated by the lens of whatever culture they come from. Culture to me is an attempt to facilitate co-operation on increasingly large scales and as such it requires the continual restriction and moderation of natural urges - the current political battles raging in the West regarding the standards for the wealthy vs the poor reflects the inherent instabilities in all cultural constructions